


Take Me Home

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Prompt Fill, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 06:58:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5699209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for Abroad Prompt: <i>Any, any, "Can I get a ride home?"</i></p><p>In which Rodney's team doesn't give up on finding him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me Home

John scanned the rocky terrain, looking for a relatively flat place to set the ‘jumper down. Most of M55-T43 was covered in old-growth forest, and the narrow strips of land that weren’t consisted of rocky outgrowths, sheer cliffs, and deep gorges.

“One o’clock,” Lorne said. 

“Got it.” It was a clearing of sorts, not quite big enough to fit the ‘jumper but John wasn’t too concerned. The stabilizers should make up for the variances in topography.

“I have a reading,” Teyla said from behind John. “He is close by.”

John was already pushing up out of the pilot’s seat, and stopped to look at the LSD. Rodney’s subcutaneous transmitter was broadcasting loud and clear, but until John actually laid eyes on him and saw he was okay there was no cause for celebration.

Ronon opened the back hatch, his pulse pistol in his hand. There were no indications of any other life forms, hostile or otherwise, but there was no sense taking chances. John took the safety off his P-90 and followed Ronon, with Teyla and Lorne close behind.

“Straight ahead,” Teyla directed. “Just inside the tree line.”

John nodded, using hand gestures to get everyone to fan out. It was easy to slip into a mission headspace, focusing on Rodney as a package to be intercepted rather than John’s best friend who had been missing for upwards of two weeks. Easier to scan the treeline looking for movement, friendly or otherwise, then worry about what would happen if they found Rodney and he was critically injured. Or already dead.

And then Rodney stumbled out of the forest, looking worse than John had ever seen him but still moving under his own steam. Dried blood and bruising on his forehead, torn pants, skin pallid beneath the dirt and blood. John flicked the safety back on the P-90 and tossed it to Lorne, running to catch Rodney as he started to stumble.

“Rodney!” John grabbed hold of him and managed to keep him on his feet. 

Rodney stared at him, his eyes glassy and unfocused. His face was crisscrossed with shallow scratches. “Can you take me home?”

The knot in John’s chest finally loosened, though it wouldn’t go away fully until he had Rodney back in Atlantis, under Carson’s care. And God help the Korla, because once Rodney was set to rights John was going to do the same for the people who had kidnapped him and sold him off.

“Yeah, buddy. Let’s go home.”

“John? You’re here?” Rodney blinked at him.

“Where else would I be?” John tipped his head at Ronon, who took hold of Rodney from the other side so that he was supported between them. “You up to taking a ride?”

“I want to go home,” Rodney said plaintively. It gave John a different kind of pain in his chest, and he couldn’t help pressing a quick kiss against Rodney’s temple.

“Then let’s get you there.”

Ronon and John got Rodney back to the ‘jumper, and Lorne piloted them back to P87-Y22 to dial the Gate there back to Atlantis. Later, when Rodney was feeling up to it, they’d find out how he ended up where he had, and what had happened to him in the meantime.

For now, John was content to sit in the back of the ‘jumper with Rodney, coaxing him to sip some water and tucking a blanket around him to make sure he was warm enough. He kept touching Rodney, reassuring himself that his friend was alive.

“Don’t do that again,” John whispered, curling his arm around Rodney’s shoulders and pulling him close.

Rodney rested his head on John’s shoulder, already half asleep. “’kay.”

Lorne remote dialed the Gate. “Atlantis, this is Jumper One. We’re coming home.”


End file.
